G-SY628 Tabletop Mirror: 86 x 58cm, three sides, measured up

A tabletop mirror is bought for a job: seeing the back of your own head, doing make-up without leaning into a wall mirror, getting a parting straight. The G-SY628 Tabletop Mirror is the three-sided sort, listed at 86 x 58cm in a gold frame, and the size is the first thing to take seriously.

86 x 58cm is a large tabletop mirror

Those are the only figures the listing gives, and it does not say which is the width and which the height. Either way round, this is a piece of furniture rather than an accessory. Stood on a small dressing table, the longer figure will take up most of the top, and a tri-fold mirror also needs room for its side panels to open towards you.

Before ordering, take two measurements of your own:

• The usable width of the table top, ignoring anything already standing on it.
• The depth from the front edge to the wall, because the base sits back and the side panels swing forward into the space you sit in.

If the top is narrow, a mirror that must stay folded to fit defeats the purpose of buying a three-sided one.

What the side panels are for

The listing describes the tri-fold design as giving several viewing angles at once, and that is exactly the use. The centre panel does what any mirror does. The two wings, angled in, show you the sides and the back of your head without you having to turn, which is the only practical way to check a haircut, an earring or the back of a collar on your own. Angled flat, out to the sides, they widen the view instead and reflect more of the room.

The figures the listing skips

• Folded size. Not given. If the mirror has to be put away between uses, ask us how small it folds.
• Depth of the base. Not given, and it decides whether it can sit in front of a wall or needs a gap behind.
• Whether the wings are adjustable or fixed, and how stiffly they hold a position.
• Frame material, glass thickness and weight. None are recorded. The frame is described as gold and no more than that.

Three photographs come with the listing, and we can check anything else against the piece itself if you ask.

No light in this one

Nothing in this listing mentions lighting, so treat it as an unlit mirror and plan the light around it. Daylight from the side is kinder than a ceiling light behind you, which is the usual reason make-up looks different once you leave the house. If you would rather the mirror brought its own light, that is a different model rather than an option on this one.

Where it sits among the dressing mirrors

The G-SY628 Tabletop Mirror page has the photographs and the order button, and the alternatives are alongside it in Wall Mirrors. The SY6302 is a three-sided mirror listed at 77 x 55cm, slightly smaller all round; the SY6303 is the same size with crushed diamond borders; and the SY6306 (LED) is a circular vanity mirror with lighting built into the border. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond.